Traveling to China for 3-4 months next year. How much money will I need?

[ipsi()]

Ignoring the cost of the Airfare, about how much RMB will I want? I will be staying with my girlfriends family, who live in Qingdao (青岛), and I don't think they'll be asking for money. If they did, any guesses on how much they'll be asking for? Or, if it would be more appropriate, how much should I offer?

Of course, that's not the main question. What I'm really looking for is some idea of how much I might end up spending per week. I'm not exactly a huge fan of shopping, and I'm not the sort of guy who likes buying presents for the sake of buying presents. I'm mostly thinking of entertainment, restaurants, transport, all that sort of thing. I'm going to be working over this summer to save up to go next summer. Which makes more sense when you realise that Summer, for me, is from about December to February.

So yeah, a rough idea of how much people think is good. Or how much you spend each week, taking into account my circumstances.

Thanks a lot everyone!

- ipsi

[Pengyou]

For starters...a fairly traditional family will not ask you for money to stay with them, especially if u r their daugther's b/f. However, the appropriate thing would be to take her family out to dinner periodically. When staying with families I have done this at least once a week - don't think there is a rule. I have been to Qingdao but a few years ago.

For the best response you may want to post a separate query - or search the site for posts already here - on how to order food at a banquet. A chinese banquet is a time when you invite people out to dinner, usually a nice dinner - not as formal as we think of a banquet.

Have you met your g/f before in person? It seems you have not met her parents yet. You might want to think about what kind of relationship you will be able to have with your g/f. Chinese parents are still pretty traditional about that kind of thing.

If you want a nice common meal - 2 people with 3 dishes you can pay as little as 35 rmb for good wholesome, simple chinese cooking, on up to...the sky's the limit. 50rmb would usually be a price that is ok, that people don't think is too cheap.

Are you going to travel around China during your three months? 3 months is a long time to stay with people you don't know...it might make it easier to break up your visit by going to Dalian and nearby cities one week...then returning...going to Beijing and Xi'an for 10 days...then returning...going to Shanghai...then returning. When I was a teacher I used to go to student's homes during the vacations. They were only a week long but if things didn't click, it was like nightmare. Towards the end of my teaching I would always tell my student that there was a chance that I might have to go a visit a nearby friend after the 4th day there...that gave me a way out without loosing face. So if you build in a time to go traveling you give both you and them a time to rest.

Beyond this...you would have to give me an idea of the kind of lifestyle you want to live and what you want to do. It would be a good idea to talk about these things with your g/f in detail.

You should consider what to take with you as gifts to her parents. Taking them some kind of gift is a good way to make a good impression. It should not be too expensive or they may think you are not good with money.

Also, you need to have your g/f check to see about registration requirements in her neighborhood. It should be no problem but it is better to ask ahead of time. And...it might be wise to get a supplement health insurance policy if you are going to be there that long. And shots? I don't know about that.

[Nathaniel Brown]

I agree with the previous poster. They'd probably prefer being taken out for dinner than being paid rent.

We could try to tell you all the various different Chinese customs but I assume your girlfriend would be able to do a better job of that than us. That being said make sure you bring lots of presents. It's traditional to give presents when you go to someones house. I'd recommend getting something really nice from your home country to give to your girl friends patents. If you ask her she might be able to guide you in the right direction (hint when girls say “you don't have to“ it really means wouldn't it be sweet if you did). Then buy a bunch of trinkets for other people you might visit while your there. I'm from Australia so we bought about 20 kangaroo and koala key rings to give to people while were here.

Now the original question. I'm living in Beijing with my wife living a fairly western lifestyle and we're living on about 10,000 RMB a month together but it's Beijing which is expensive and we're living it up at the moment. My brother was in a smaller city and was living it up on about 3500 RMB a month.

To give you an idea os what some things cost:

* You can get about 1 liter of local beer for between 2 and 10 RMB ant normal pubs.

* We're eating out in Beijing for between 30 and 60RMB per person.

* My Brother never spent much more than 20 RMB.

* Taxies in Beijing are 10RMB for 3km. From the north side to the south it's only 50RMB. If you use buses(1-2RMB) and the subway(3RMB) you can almost anywhere for about 25RMB.

If you want to be on the safe side I try to save about 20,000 RMB for four months. That is about $3,300 AUD if your Australia which I think you are :-)

[roddy]

RMB20,000 is a good ball park figure - you could spend a lot more or a lot less, but if you turn up with that much you won't disgrace yourself by having to ask for a loan.

Are you planning to do much traveling around China? Also, have you considered working while you are there? Get 10-15 hours of teaching work a week at RMB 100 a week (is that feasible in Qingdao? I'd assume though, but could be wrong) and you'll fund yourself easily, plus get what might be a much needed break from the inlaws Start organizing now, and you might even be able to bring your trip forward a year.

I wouldn't worry about rent - maybe raise it with the gf and see what she says, but you're probably better off with taking them out for dinner regularly, and maybe coming back with a bag full of groceries now and then.

[bianfuxia]

After rent, we have spent roughly 4,000 rmb per month living in Beijing - there are 2 of us. This includes food, fun, and learning (we pay private tutors varying amounts (about 200 total per week)).

We eat out about 3 nights a week and never pay more than 50 kuai total (ie 25 or less per head, and often significantly less). We bike most places.

But we're not hermits! We go out and have fun. If we go to expensive places (like places that charge more for a beer than they do at home) then we master the art of nursing that beer...

If you don't have loads of money, you can still have a good lifestyle in China. I guess - though I don't know - that Qingdao might be a little cheaper than BJ.

Here's an idea of what we pay for different things.

Beer - I buy 500ml qingdaos for 2 kuai from my local dude on the street, with a 5 mao refund on the bottle.

food - a bowl of noodles should be 3-4 kuai, 5 at the most

baozi dumplings - 3-5 kuai. That's breakfast covered!

Food at restuarants - you can pay as much as you like but you can feed 2 people of normal appetites for 30-50 kuai total. You could feed 5 for 60-100 (I once "hosted" a dinner for 5 at a perfectly good local place for 60 kuai including beers. That was a good deal but not a fluke). The trick is to find the local places that have good food and decent prices. If you really want to hand out the largesse then you can do so for 200+ and your girlfriend or parents will no doubt already know the place to go for that.

Nathaniel seems roughly right on his Beijing transport costs. It must be cheaper in Qingdao for taxis anyway.

Other things you might want to consider include the cost of doing little trips - say you want to go to Shanghai (or wherever) for the weekend. You should check out train ticket prices (search on here and you'll find links to websites). Train travel isn't too pricey really. In most cities outside Beijing and probably Shanghai you can get a quite decent double room with ensuite for 80-120 rmb a night if you bargain (and if your girlfriend is Chinese, send her in to negotiate the price while you stand outside).

On Nathaniel's proposed 20 grand for 4 months, without rent, I think you will have load of cash.

Of course, if you drink a lot of beer in nice bars, and take taxis everywhere, you might need every last kuai of that! It very much depends on your proposed lifestyle. My German flatmate, for example, wouldn't last 5 days on what we get through in a month!

Good luck!

[Nathaniel Brown]

Depending on your lifestyle you can either spend up big or spend almost nothing. One of our flatmate's lived on 800 RMB a month while they we're getting started so it can be done :-)

I'd recommend the tutoring if you can get it. It's 100RMB an hour not a week. So for for 10 to 15 hours of work a week (4000 - 6000 RMB a month) you can stay over there indefinitely which is more or less what my brother was doing. Even if you do teach I'd recommend bringing over about 10,000 because the first month is generally more expensive than the rest and if you are teaching they won't pay you till the end of the month.

The other advantage with teaching English is that you generally get an apartment or at least a dorm room. My brother was working for a school that hired him out to other schools so by the time he left he actually had three rooms in different houses around the city.

Anyway I hope you have fun.

[roddy]

It's 100RMB an hour not a week

Apologies to anyone who took a 400RMB a month job because of my typo . . .

[ipsi()]

First up, thanks all for that. It helped a lot.

Pengyou: Yes, I've met her in person. We're both living in the same city, so yeah. Also, I have met her mother, but she can't speak English, and at the time I couldn't speak Chinese. She seems nice enough.

I'd not intended to travel around China. I'm not really expecting to have that much money. I'd estimated somewhere between about 500 and 1000 RMB per week, which seems to be a little on the low side. At maximum, I'll have about RMB 20,000 all told. And that's if I spend nothing over the summer, which is unlikely. I should end up with between 10 and 15,000, I think.

Nathaniel Brown: Dude, I'm sure it says New Zealand right under my name!

Roddy: No way I can bring my trip forward to this year. It's a little late for that. But it's only a year away.

Also, I'm not sure how much I want to work while over there. It'd be nice to finally have a holiday, and I'll probably have just finished (Though not officially graduated) University.

So yeah. I'm not anticipating a particularly expensive lifestyle, though it will probably cost me more than it will over here, especially if I go and see the sights and that sort of thing.

You guys have been very helpful! It's given me a bit to think on, and I'll probably bring more money over than I had thought I would need to. But that's ok.

谢谢你们。

[roddy]

You could manage fine on RMB 500 per week - you'd need to watch what you spend, but you're presumably not going to want to be living it up for all four months anyway. Hey, if you eat at home and regard TV and going for walks as adequate entertainment then you could get by on RMB 100 a week, and probably still have enough left over for a Big Mac on Sundays.

I wouldn't rule out working a bit - if your trip includes the school holiday over Chinese New Year then you could teach at one of the intensive 'English camp' things lots of schools run and put a fair chunk of money in the bank over the course of a few weeks. If it means you can do some extra traveling, I think it'd be worth it.

[ipsi()]

Thanks. I'll consider working. Guess it depends on how I feel at the end of the year. And now, I am off to bed.

[Nathaniel Brown]

I did actually that information was on the side bar :-)

I you have anything between 10,000 and 20,000 you should be fine. obviously more will make it easier but yea. If a quick break down of a weeks worth of stuff assuming your living a fairly cheapish life and your paying for most of your stuff :-)

Cereal (7 servers) - 11

Milk for cereal - 5

Roadside meals for lunch - 3 x 7 = 21

Dinner - 5 x 2 x 30 = 300 (eating well at a Chinese restaurant with your girlfriend 5 nights a week)

Dinner - 2 x 4 x 25 = 200 (eating well at a Chinese restaurant with your girlfriend 2 nights a week. It's cheaper per person to feed more people)

Taxi - 7 x 10 = 70

Beer - 2 x 2 x 3 x 5 = 60 (2 beers each an a cheap bar 3 nights a week)

So a rough cost per week is about 597.

The things that will cost more are:

*Foreign food

**Want a packet of corn chips? 30 RMB

**A small block of Cheese? 50 RMB

**Pizza from pizza hut? 100 RMB for one pizza.

**A steak? Between 50RMB and 200 RMB.

**Coffee from starbucks is 30RMB

**A cocktail at a western bar is about 70 RMB.

**A three coarse meal at a western hotel can cost 600 RMB.

*Travel?

**To lazy to ride around? taxi's add up.

**Tours get expensive.

*Calling home

**If you use Skype or a phone card it's ok but the default price is like 7 RMB a minute.

So it's basically how western do you want to be in China? If you are happy with a Chinese lifestyle then you should be fine. I hope these numbers make it easier to figure out how much you need.

[gato]

If you are staying with your GF's family, I would suspect that her parents will want you to eat meals with them most of the time.